New Orleans City Council takes ax to Mayor Ray Nagin's budget

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneShelley Midura and other members of the New Orleans City Council approved their revisions to Mayor Ray Nagin's 2010 budget 7-0, and at least five council members indicated they would vote to override a Nagin veto.

Setting up a budget confrontation with Mayor Ray Nagin for the second straight year, the New Orleans City Council voted Tuesday to slash the 2010 budgets for the mayor's office and the chief administrative office and to cancel the 12 unpaid furlough days that Nagin had proposed for most city employees.

Even though it added $4.6 million in spending to eliminate the furloughs, the council's extensive revisions overall reduced the general fund budget from the $462 million recommended by Nagin to $455 million.

Council members said they thought some of the administration's revenue projections, particularly on how much money can be collected by more aggressive efforts to collect the city's often-ignored sanitation service fee, were too optimistic.

Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Cary Grant, chief architect of the mayor's budget proposals, said he was "astonished and amazed" by some of the council's cuts.

"I took a scalpel to this budget, and now you're taking a meat cleaver," a frustrated Grant said of the decisions to cut $10.5 million from the chief administrative office's proposed $48.5 million budget and $1 million each from the budgets of the mayor's office and city attorney's office.

The council approved its revisions to Nagin's proposals 7-0. Even council members who often support Nagin made no protests against the cuts, which apparently were worked out in last-minute behind-the-scenes meetings.

At least five council members have indicated they would vote to override a Nagin veto, a knowledgeable source said.

Nagin vetoed the budget the council passed a year ago for 2009. The council voted to override that veto, but the two sides then worked out a compromise in which Nagin got his way on most issues.

Nagin issued a statement Tuesday night saying the council's actions will mean "a decrease in the quality of life for citizens, as well as further negative impacts for city employees. It will make it necessary to implement further cuts in services in a number of areas, such as public safety, blight abatement and grass cutting." He said he will review the council's budget "to determine what is realistic going forward."

The council voted to reduce the "other operating" expenses budgets for many departments, already cut 10 percent in many cases in Nagin's proposals, by another 10 percent. Departments in line for such cuts include Police, losing $399,000; Finance, $378,000; Sanitation, $369,000; Property Management, $276,000; Fire, $185,000; and Health, $175,000.

Municipal Court would lose $138,000 and Juvenile Court $122,000.

The "other operating" category includes money for equipment purchases, outside contracts and all other expenses except salaries and benefits for city workers. The council made no cuts in the money for personnel, and it exempted a few departments, such as Recreation and Human Services, from any cuts.

The council voted to give the Public Works Department an extra $2 million, which Councilwoman Stacy Head said would be used for street lights.

Other agencies getting more money than proposed by Nagin include Criminal District Court, an additional $500,000; the district attorney's office, $400,000; the City Planning Commission, $200,000; and the registrar of voters' office, $150,000.

The council reduced the budget for the inspector general's office from $3.4 million to $3.1 million, which appears to be illegal because it is less than the .75 percent of the total general fund budget that the city is required by the City Charter to provide for that office.

Grant protested the council's decision to cut the revenue estimates in several categories, saying the administration had a good track record in forecasting revenue until the economic downturn of the past two years. He said its 2010 projections were "very conservative" and the council's revisions were "arbitrary" and "dangerous."

The administration had forecast it could increase sanitation fee revenue by $3.2 million next year through more aggressive collection methods, but the council reduced the projection by $5 million, well below the amount brought in this year.

Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell said that if the administration's projections turn out to be accurate, there will be money to restore some of the cuts the council implemented.

Grant said the decision to cut the other operating expenses appropriation for the CAO's office by 25 percent, from $42.9 million to $32.4 million, will mean less money to acquire city vehicles and to buy fuel for current vehicles, including police cars, fire engines and emergency medical services vehicles.

Head said the administration can sell unneeded vehicles, provide less fuel and cancel or reduce some of the contracts in the CAO's budget.

Councilwoman Shelley Midura said the City Charter doesn't permit the council to appropriate operating money on a line-item basis, meaning it cannot tell the administration which programs to cut and which ones to keep. As a result, its only recourse was to reduce the overall appropriations for departments that members thought had bloated budgets.

In general, the changes adopted by the council reflected positions advocated by Head and Midura, though they did not manage to get the even deeper cuts they had proposed in the budgets for the Sanitation Department and some other agencies.

In other actions Tuesday, the deadline under the charter to adopt next year's budget, the council:

Voted 4-3 to approve a package of property tax millages that includes 1.7 additional mills for the Board of Liquidation, City Debt, which said it needs the extra $3.9 million a year to sell $40 million in city bonds late this year or early in 2010. The council also approved 1.18 extra mills for the public library system. Head, Midura and President Arnie Fielkow tried to reject the extra library millage, saying they don't think the library system will need additional revenue until 2011, but were outvoted. Head also wanted to deny the extra money for the Board of Liquidation, but she picked up no support for that idea.

Approved a $53.7 million capital budget for 2010 on a 7-0 vote despite complaints by Head and Midura that the document was not as comprehensive as required by the charter and had not been adequately reviewed by the City Planning Commission.

Reduced 2010 appropriations from the Economic Development Fund from $11 million to $4 million to leave enough money to start a public-private partnership to promote economic development. The council has been pushing for such a body but Nagin has refused to go along. The council hopes the mayor taking office in May will support the idea and institute the partnership.